Wu Jun, Kohno Tatsuro, Georgiev Stefan K, Ikoma Miho, Ishii Hideaki, Petrenko Andrey B, Baba Hiroshi
Division of Anesthesiology, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Neuroreport. 2008 Feb 12;19(3):333-7. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e3282f50c90.
Taurine has been suggested to modulate nociceptive information at the spinal cord level. In this study, the pharmacological properties of taurine were investigated in adult rat substantia gelatinosa (SG) neurons using whole-cell patch-clamp method. We found that taurine seemed to have higher efficacy than glycine on glycine receptors in SG neurons. An increase in chloride conductance was responsible for taurine-induced currents. Taurine at 0.3 mM activated glycine receptors, whereas at 3 mM activated both glycine and gamma-aminobutyric acid A receptors. The currents activated by coapplication of taurine and glycine are cross inhibitive. Altogether these results show that taurine might represent another important neurotransmitter or modulator in SG neurons, which may be involved in antinociception.
牛磺酸已被认为可在脊髓水平调节伤害性信息。在本研究中，使用全细胞膜片钳方法在成年大鼠脊髓背角胶状质（SG）神经元中研究了牛磺酸的药理学特性。我们发现，在SG神经元中，牛磺酸对甘氨酸受体的作用似乎比甘氨酸更强。氯化物电导的增加是牛磺酸诱导电流的原因。0.3 mM的牛磺酸激活甘氨酸受体，而3 mM的牛磺酸则同时激活甘氨酸和γ-氨基丁酸A受体。牛磺酸和甘氨酸共同作用激活的电流具有交叉抑制作用。这些结果表明，牛磺酸可能是SG神经元中另一种重要的神经递质或调节剂，可能参与抗伤害感受。
